


Sometimes to Win, You've Got to Sin

by hybryd0



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: American AU, Bullying, M/M, Magic, Summer Camp AU, warning for Liam and Louis being apathetic to bullying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-10
Updated: 2014-10-10
Packaged: 2018-02-19 13:54:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2390744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hybryd0/pseuds/hybryd0
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zayn wasn't expecting to have fun when he was sent off to Camp Lakewood for the summer, much less meet someone like Harry, whose sweet low Southern drawl makes him feel warm inside.  Suddenly Zayn found himself wanting to protect Harry from the bullies that plagued him, but they don't say the road to hell is paved with good intentions for nothing...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sometimes to Win, You've Got to Sin

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> I feel a little bit like this fic has tried to devour my soul last month and I know without encouragement from some friends (who I will name after the reveal) I may have given up several times. Thank you to my amazing beta for tackling this monster on such short notice. I have never been to a summer camp, therefore all my knowledge of how they work is from guides and camp websites, and I’m taking a little creative license with it all as well. I know I didn't stick exactly with your prompts, but hopefully you still like this, enjoy!

Zayn took a deep drag off of his cigarette and slouched against the wall behind him, giving off as much of an air of “don’t want to fucking be here” as he possibly could. Not that it mattered too much. There were some other kids waiting with him, some younger and some looked about his age, standing around in groups and chatting animatedly to each other, seemingly very excited for the bus to arrive. He saw one or two of the boys close to his age glance at him, but it seemed like none of them wanted to brave his death glare and try to talk to him.

That was fine with him. It wasn’t his choice to be there anyway and he didn’t have a compulsion to make friends or try to enjoy himself. They were all probably rich brats anyway considering how much the camp cost. If it wasn’t for his father getting lucky and winning the lottery his family wouldn’t have been able to afford to send him to the camp.

He wasn’t enough of an asshole to wish his father hadn’t won the lottery, it had been a huge help to his family, but it was a close thing.

By the time the bus arrived he managed to get in two more cigarettes, enjoying every single drag because he was going to be at the camp for a month and he wouldn’t be able to sneak a smoke like he could at home. He tossed his pack in the trash can as he lined up with his luggage along with the rest of the boys. There were a couple of men in white shirts with the camp logo on it that were taking the luggage and storing it in the space in the bus’s undercarriage.

Zayn was the last in line and so the last to board, which meant most of the seats had been taken already. Boys were leaning over seats to talk to each other and the chatter was so loud that he was already craving another cigarette. There were a couple of seats left, but one boy had already stretched his legs out and didn’t look ready to move and another boy was leaning across the aisle to talk to another boy, laughing and rocking back and forth and Zayn couldn’t imagine being next to him for the two hour drive to camp.

The last boy was the only one who looked at him, a shy smile and warm eyes that were welcoming, if slightly nervous. Zayn slumped down into the open seat and didn’t look at the boy beside him so as not to give him the idea that Zayn might be interested in conversation. He heard a sigh beside him, but ignored it as he leaned his head back and closed his eyes, wishing for his iPod to drown out the ridiculous amount of noise.

He woke up to the bus jolting and looked around wildly only to realize he’d somehow leaned over while he was sleeping so that his head was resting on the shoulder of the boy beside him. He jerked upright, a blush staining his cheeks as he mumbled an apology.

“S’okay, dude,” the boy said, his voice carrying a soft southern twang like it was something he was picking up by exposure. “You looked like you needed that nap.”

“Wish I could just sleep through the next month,” Zayn muttered, not really meaning to actually start a conversation with the boy, but he supposed he owed him a bit after sleeping on him.

“Guessing it wasn’t your choice to come to camp,” the boy said. “I’m Liam, by the way.”

“Zayn, and I wonder what gave you that idea?”

Liam shrugged and continued to smile as if he didn’t get that Zayn was being mean. “It’s not that bad. There’s plenty to do like swimming in the lake and sports and stuff, the food is actually great, and the counselors are cool.”

“There’s spiders and ticks and being eaten by bears,” Zayn retorted.

“You’re a ray of sunshine, huh?”

Zayn frowned and hunched in on himself. “Don’t gotta talk to me.”

“Y’know, I didn’t want to come my first time either,” Liam said after a long silence. Zayn made a noncommittal noise, the kind he reserved for situations where he didn’t really want to listen, but his parents raised him better than to ignore someone completely when they were talking to him. Liam seemed to take it as a sign to continue, “I was nine and scared, I cried ‘cause I didn’t wanna be away from my parents for so long and I was afraid the kids at camp would bully me like the kids at school did,” Zayn glanced up at the mention of bullies; he knew a thing or two about bullies. “But I got to camp and yeah I was homesick at times, but I also made some amazing friends, had a lot of fun, and I’ve gone back every year since. At least I belong somewhere, y’know? Maybe you could have some fun and make some friends, if you give it a chance.”

Zayn, who fully intended to be as asocial as possible for the month, found himself a little blown away by Liam’s open honesty. He quietly considered the other boy as he turned his words over in his head (picturing a nine year old Liam with flushed, tear stained cheeks and red rimmed eyes melted him a little) and he begrudgingly acknowledged to himself that what Liam said sounded a lot better than being completely miserable the whole month, even if he couldn’t swim and sports weren’t his thing. He’d always been good at making the most of situations, there was no reason for his exile to summer camp to be any different.

“Please tell me there’s more to this camp than swimming and sports.”

++++

The sun was already high in the sky by the time the bus passed the camp sign and one of the counselors stood up. He was a big bear of a man who looked like he wouldn’t take any shit off of anyone and surveyed them all with a critical eye.

“Listen up!” the man bellowed and the bus fell completely silent in seconds. 

Liam leaned over just enough to whisper into Zayn’s ear, “That’s Paul, he’s one of the head counselors. He looks like a grizzly, but he’s more of a teddy.”

Zayn suddenly really appreciated having an experienced camper as his new friend.

“I think most of you boys are regulars, but for those of you who are new I’m going to explain what’s going to happen when we stop,” Paul continued, his voice loud in the deathly silence. “When the bus stops you’ll follow Bressie to the center of camp where you’ll be separated into your teams and taken to your cabins, then to the mess hall for lunch. We’ll search your trunks for anything you’re not supposed to have, by the time you get done with lunch your things will be in your cabin for you to get settled in before afternoon activities.”

Dread coiled in Zayn’s stomach at the mention of afternoon activities. It wasn’t like he was actually bad at all sports, he’d found he could excel at some things like ultimate frisbee and kickball wasn’t that bad, but he was more into painting and drawing, always had been. There was also the matter that all the other boys in P.E had always given him the hardest time and so even though he wasn’t terrible at sports, he grew to hate them, all of them.

“Don’t worry, man, this isn’t like high school, usually as long as you try your best your team is gonna cheer you on and support you. Hoping you’ll be in my cabin, but even though we can request which team we want, you never really know,” Liam said quietly. 

Zayn’s head was spinning with the amount of information Liam had just dumped on him, but before he could ask any questions the bus came to a jerky stop and everyone started to stand up. No one moved until the brakes hissed and the driver opened the door. Paul and the other counselor with them got off first and then they all started to file off in a much more orderly manner than any school bus Zayn had ever been on.

The sun was bright and warm when Zayn stepped off the bus but a nice breeze seemed to be keeping it from feeling oppressively hot. He reluctantly allowed himself to think that it felt nice and maybe, just maybe it wasn’t going to be as bad as he thought.

“Alright then lads, let’s go,” the other counselor, Bressie, said, surprising Zayn with his Irish accent.

The boys were much less orderly as they followed Bressie down a trail away from the little gravel parking lot the bus was parked in; he noted there were a handful of vehicles parked there as well. The trail went through a smattering of trees before it broke through to reveal the camp, or what was immediately visible of it anyway; Zayn didn’t really have any idea how big or small it actually was.

There were three buildings that were visible around the clearing that seemed to be the center of the camp. A little stage with tons of logs in front of it sat off to one side and in the very center there was a flagpole with the U.S flag and the camp flag already flapping in the gentle breeze. Boys of varying ages milling around, some of them still with their parents, though it seemed like most of the boys had ditched their parents to join their friends while their parents talked to counselors.

“Payno!” A voice shouted joyously and a boy bounded away from the group he’d been talking to and pounced on Liam.

To his credit, Liam let out an oof at the impact, but managed to stay up right, one arm hugging the other boy to him. “Tommo, you’re a menace, dude.”

“Knew you’d catch me, what with those muscles you’ve been so proud of flaunting on Facebook for the past six months,” the other boy said, and Zayn refused to believe his name was actually Tommo.

“Shut up,” Liam growled, a faint blush coloring his cheeks, and pushed him away.

That gave Zayn a chance to really look at this boy, who was apparently Liam’s friend, probably from years of coming to the camp together. He was shorter than himself, which was good because if he’d been much bigger he may have actually bowled Liam over, with a sort of lean athletic build that made Zayn mildly jealous. His light brown hair was cut short (like most of the boys, probably as a way to keep cool for the summer) with a little swoop of bangs in the front that did nothing to hide the clear blue eyes that were watching him back with open curiosity.

“Your manners need some work, Liam. If you’re not going to introduce me to your new friend then I’ll just do it myself,” the boy tutted softly. He took a step towards Zayn and held out his hand, “Any friend of Liam’s is a friend of mine, I’m Louis.”

“Knew your name couldn’t honestly be Tommo,” Zayn said as he shook Louis’s hand, “I’m Zayn.”

“Tomlinson is my last name,” Louis said, “we just started calling each other Payno and Tommo sometime around the third year of coming here.”

“You mean after you stopped being a dick,” Liam said with a surprising amount of teasing for calling someone a dick.

“Watch your language, Liam, there are younguns around,” Louis said with disapproval that Zayn could tell was only half real.

Zayn had a lot of questions he wanted to ask them, but he didn’t really know where to start and it wasn’t much longer before the counselors started to round up all of the boys and direct them to take seats on the logs in front of the stage. He made sure to sit on a log beside Liam, not ready to be separated from him yet. If he was crossing his fingers between his legs then no one had to know about it.

There was a dim roar of excited chatter that quieted as a man dressed in khakis and a white camp shirt stepped up onto the stage and thumped the mic in his hand a couple of times. He was a severe looking man (reminded Zayn a bit of one of his ex-principals who had taken no shit from anyone) but then he smiled and even from far away Zayn could feel the warmth.

“Welcome to Camp Lakewood, and to a good majority of you I say welcome back. To those of you who are new, I’m Simon, the head honcho around here. I’m happy to see so many excited faces, so I won’t talk your ears off. I’m going to sort you into blue, green, purple, or yellow team, which will also be your cabin for the month. Teams will compete in sports and other activities for points, the team with the most points at the end of the month will a trip to the amusement park during the last week of camp.” There was a small cheer from the crowd and Simon waited for them to quiet down before going on. “None of the teams from last year are completely the same, though we have done our best to fulfill requests to be bunked together to the best of our ability while still being fair to everyone. Not all requests were granted, but we will allow two switches per team during this first week.”

“Did you and Louis request to be in the same cabin?” Zayn asked Liam quietly.

“Yeah,” Liam said, “we do every year, so far there’s only been one year we were in different teams, though he’s a year older so we’ve been separated by cabin a couple of times.”

“Did one of you switch teams?” Zayn was pretty sure he’d be requesting a switch if he wasn’t on Liam’s team.

Liam smirked, “Nah, a little competition between friends is good. He was a sore loser when my team beat his into the ground though.”

“Hey, I heard that,” Louis protested from the other side of Liam. “It was only by a couple of points.”

“This points thing sounds a little like Harry Potter or something,” Zayn commented, watching out of the corner of his eye as Simon shuffled some papers. He said something about bobcats and team blue and then started calling off names; they seemed to all be younger boys so Zayn didn’t pay attention.

“Nah, you don’t win or lose points through behavior or anything, just through activities,” Liam explained.

“I hope for my team’s sake that there’s an art competition,” Zayn joked, even though he wasn’t really.

Liam laughed a little. “Listen, you can’t be worse than Harry Styles, he’s somehow hurt himself every year. His team usually loses.”

“He doesn’t even take part in the fishing competition after he cried three years ago,” Louis added, leaning around Liam to be a part of the conversation. “He said the hooks hurt the fish.”

“They probably do, don’t think you’d like a hook in your mouth,” Zayn pointed out carefully, not really wanting to upset his new friends.

“Yeah, but he was carrying on like they have feelings or something,” Louis continued. “He’s a bit of a weirdo.”

“I’m not even sure why he comes back every year,” Liam said. “Some of the boys are kinda awful to him.”

Zayn frowned to himself. It wasn’t like he should have been surprised that in a camp full of boys that there would be bullying still.

“Oh, he’s calling out the wolves now,” Louis said.

Back on stage Bressie and a handful of counselor were standing on either side of Simon. Bressie had a blue bandana hanging from one pocket while the other counselors had their colors. Zayn heart started to pound as Simon started calling out names. He alternated between the teams and the number of people on stage continued to grow.

“Louis Tomlinson, blue team,” Simon called out. Louis whooped loudly and bounded up while the members of blue team that were on stage cheered.

“Louis is pretty good at sports, every team always wants him,” Liam said as Simon called out a name for the yellow team.

“Liam Payne, blue team.”

The blue team cheered as Liam stood up and Zayn’s pulse sped up even more. He listened as Simon called out a name for another team and watched the boy go up to the stage and then held his breath until the next blue team member was called.

“Niall Horan, blue team.”

A boy with bleached blond hair and a smile that seemed to light up the whole area around him. He was met with happy backslaps and Liam ruffled his hair affectionately. Zayn figured that probably meant he would have yet another friend, if he made it to the blue team. If not he already planned on trying to swap with one of the boys, because he’d already spent time making friends with Liam, he wasn’t sure he wanted to start over with another group of boys.

“Zayn Malik, blue team.”

Zayn didn’t realize he’d been so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn’t hear the other teams get more members, but it hardly mattered. He shot up from his seat, his heart bursting with relief, and quickly made his way up to stand beside Liam. Liam threw a companionable arm around Zayn and Zayn relaxed, sure his month was going to be better than he’d originally thought. He didn’t even pay attention to the rest of the names until one he’d already heard was called out.

“Harry Styles, blue team.”

The boys around Zayn groaned and not a single one of them cheered. He watched the seating area, curious about this boy that no one seemed to want. A gangly teen seemed to almost tumble off the log he was sitting on before he shuffled up to the stage. For a moment it looked like he was hiding behind his long, curly locks before he flicked them back to reveal pretty, boyish face; it looked like he hadn’t quite lost all his baby fat yet, cheeks still soft and round. He looked mostly unconcerned about his lack of warm reception and moved to stand beside Niall, who was the only person to greet him with a smile as far as Zayn could see.

Zayn felt a pang of empathy for this boy he hadn’t even talked to yet. He knew what it felt like to be the last person anyone wanted on their team, for his mere presence to be scorned. Experience had taught him that just because it didn’t appear to bother Harry didn’t mean that it didn’t

++++

The main room of the cabin was about the size of the living room, dining room, and kitchen of the apartment he grew up in combined. There were five bunk beds lined up against one wall and a line of storage units against the other. There was a second floor with the same setup, except for Bressie’s private room. There was only one bathroom; it had three sinks and three private shower stalls along with cubbies for storing toiletries and a cabinet that had towels in it.

Immediately the boys started pairing off and Zayn felt a small stab of disappointment when Liam chose to bunk with Louis. He looked around, unsure if he should just wait and see what was left or if he should approach someone, when he saw Harry standing by himself. The unaffected look from earlier was gone, his body slumped and eyes full of a sadness that ripped Zayn to the core.

Zayn looked around to see if that Niall kid was maybe going to bunk with Harry, since he’d seemed friendly enough with him, but he was chatting happily with some other boys. When he looked back at Harry he saw the boy watching Niall with undisguised disappointment and that just clenched it for him.

“Hey,” Zayn called softly as he approached Harry. Harry looked over at him and straightened up, his face falling back into a mask of indifference that Zayn could see straight through. “Wanna bunk with me, bro?”

The look on Harry’s face was something between surprise, hope, and suspicion. He looked around at all the other boys and Zayn recognized that look, it was the look of someone waiting for the other shoe to drop, for the punchline at their expense to be revealed. None of the other boys were paying them any attention though and Zayn just watched him steadily with a small, but friendly smile.

“Yeah, that’s...thanks,” Harry said in a low, sweet southern drawl, offering Zayn a bright smile that lit up his eyes like sparkling gems. 

Zayn was momentarily stunned and he wished he had his paints with him, because he desperately wanted to capture the color of his eyes, the way one simple act of kindness had sparked such joy in the other boy.

“Alright lads, time for lunch and then we’ll come back here so you can sort your things,” Bressie said from the doorway of the cabin.

The mess hall turned out to be one of the buildings at the center of camp. It was big and loud inside with so many boys chattering at each other; it reminded Zayn a bit too much of school cafeterias.

The food, however, was a different matter. Unlike some of the food he’d had at school, the plate he was handed had clearly definable food on it; macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, and what looked like barbeque chicken. He grabbed a bottle of water to go with it and then turned to look at the seating area, dreading the question of where to sit.

There was an open seat with Liam and Louis, but they were busy chatting and didn’t notice him. He hesitated, started to go towards them, and then saw Harry sitting by himself at the very last table. Liam looked up and waved to him as he came closer, but Zayn simply shot him a smile before heading on towards where Harry was sitting.

Harry looked up at him and gave him that blinding smile again and Zayn’s heart fluttered madly in his chest. Zayn couldn’t help the smile that stretched his own lips as he took a seat across from Harry. They ate in a silence that could have been weird, but it was strangely comfortable for two people who didn’t really know each other until Harry looked up at him.

“I know Louis and Liam told you about me, why are you sittin’ with me?”

Zayn shrugged, “They said everyone thought you were weird, not that you were an axe murderer. One of those is a legitimate reason not to sit with someone.”

“Most of the boys our age wouldn’t know what legitimate means,” Harry said with a soft laugh. Zayn was already in love with the sound of his voice, the low drawl like the sweet, slow drip of molasses.

“I want to be an English teacher, I know a lot of words boys our age don’t,” Zayn replied.

Harry looked like he was going to respond, but his eyes flicked up over Zayn’s shoulder and his bright smile returned. “Niall, howdy.”

“I’d say top o’ the mornin’ to ya, but it’s not morning anymore,” Niall said, with an Irish accent Zayn wasn’t at all expecting. Zayn looked over his shoulder at him to see Niall smiling brightly at him. “Hey mate, mind if I sit beside you?”

“Sure, go ahead,” Zayn said with a wave toward the empty seat.

“Cheers,” Niall said, setting his tray on the table before climbing onto the bench. “Do we need to do introductions or are we good?”

“Harry, Niall, and Zayn,” Harry said as he pointed at each of them in turn. “I think we’re good.”

“Fair enough,” Niall said with a laugh. It was the kind of laugh that made Zayn’s heart feel lighter, the kind that was dangerously contagious in large doses. “Cheers for asking Harry to bunk with you, woulda done it but you beat me too it.”

“I saw you talking to Josh though,” Harry said, his brow crinkled in confusion.

“Nah, he was askin’ me to bunk with him, but I was gonna turn him down,” Niall said, taking a bite of his food. He chewed his mouthful and swallowed before he went on, “Was a bit surprised, to be honest, I saw you sittin’ with Liam and Louis, woulda figured they’d tell you to avoid Harry at all costs.”

“Liam and Louis are okay,” Harry objected.

Niall sighed. “Just ‘cause they don’t bully you like the others doesn’t mean they aren’t knobs too, Haz. They’ve never stood up for you either.”

“Please, Niall, let’s just...let’s not talk about this,” Harry said pleadingly and Zayn got the feeling he was hearing an old rehashed argument.

Niall made a soft noise of frustration, but he stayed silent. The rest of the meal was spent in a considerably less comfortable silence than the one he and Harry had enjoyed before Niall’s appearance.

Once they were done eating Bressie took them back to the cabin where their things were waiting for them. “Alright lads, you’ve got an hour to get settled.” And then he left them alone.

“Do you want the top or bottom bunk?” Harry asked.

“Better give him the bottom bunk, otherwise he might fall out of bed and crack his head open,” said a boy whose name Zayn hadn’t bothered to learn yet.

“Yeah, or he might trip down the ladder,” another boy said.

They both spoke loud enough for those close to hear, but quiet enough that Niall, who was at the far set of bunks, didn’t. Zayn hated bullies, but the ones who made sure to isolate their victims from anyone who might defend them were the worst.

But Harry either didn’t hear them or he didn’t care what they had to say because he just cocked an eyebrow inquisitively at Zayn.

Zayn hesitated and almost said something to the bullies, but decided that bringing attention to the bullying seemed to bother Harry more than the actual act. “It doesn’t matter to me, bro, pick one.”

Harry grinned and started putting some of his things on the top bunk. For some reason, Zayn felt like he’d just passed some kind of test.

++++

The hour in the cabin passed by faster than Zayn would have liked and then they were back outside. Bressie led them to a field where Yellow Team was sitting on the grass waiting. Zayn noticed two medium-sized boxes sitting at the feet of the other counselor as he and the rest of Blue Team got seated.

“Alright boys, you know how this works; your bunkmate is now your partner for all activities that require them and it just so happens the first game does,” said the other counselor, whose name Zayn didn’t know.

“It’s a new one, which I know will make you regular lads happy,” Bressie continued. “It’s called lizard tag. One boy will be the head of the lizard and the other boy will be the tail, which will be represented by one of these bandanas.” He reached into the box and pulled out a blue bandana and held it up. “Take a minute to talk and then the ‘tail’ will come get one of these.”

Zayn turned to find Harry already grinning at him. “What?”

“Too bad we don’t have a quarter, we could flip for heads or tails,” Harry said.

Zayn snorted and smiled. “Your comedy routine needs a little bit of work, dude.”

“It’s a lot harder than people think,” Harry lamented. “Anyway, it’s not really going to matter if I’m heads or tails so take your pick.”

Zayn didn’t like what Harry was implying about himself, but he also had yet to see Harry in action. “I’ll be the head then.”

Harry nodded and went up to get the bandana. Zayn looked around while he wait and saw Liam and Louis sitting a few feet away and noticed they seemed to be in a heated debate. Louis reached out and flicked Liam on the forehead and laughed while Liam scowled at him, but Zayn could see the fond exasperation in the way Liam looked at Louis. He felt a pang in his chest at the fact that he wasn’t over there by them, but the bright smile Harry gave him as he walked back erased his sour mood.

“Alright,” said Bressie as he clapped his hands to get all attention back on him. “The person acting as the tail will stand behind his partner with his hands on his partner’s hips at all times, you may not let go or you’re out. Tuck the bandana into one of your back pockets and make sure there’s plenty of it still hanging out.”

“The object of the game is to capture all of the other team’s bandanas. A team wins a round when they’ve eliminated all of the other team,” the other counselor went on. “There’s no grabbing, pulling, or pushing. Boundaries are marked off by cones.”

“There’ll be five rounds, best three out of five wins the game. Any questions?” Bressie stopped and look around at the boys. Zayn was tempted to ask if he and Harry could just sit it out, but decided against it.

Zayn hated the game before they even started playing and it got even worse when they did. Harry's longer legs meant he could run faster than Zayn, but he had all the coordination of a baby giraffe. Every time someone went for the bandana Harry would swing his body away which jerked Zayn around as well.

Suddenly Harry jolted forward and the next thing Zayn knew he was on the ground. For a minute he felt like he was dying, his lungs burning as he struggled to draw in a breath. It wasn't the first time he'd had the wind knocked out of him, but it still sucked.

"Sorry, I'm sorry," Harry gasped as he scrambled off Zayn's back.

After a moment Zayn managed to catch his breath enough to roll over on his back and stare at the sky while cursing the existence of a game called lizard tag. A shadow fell over him and it took him a second before his eyes adjusted and he realized it was Niall leaning over him. The other boy’s brow was twisted in concern as he held out his hand to help Zayn up.

“You okay, mate? That was a nasty fall,” Niall said, helping brush the grass off of him once Zayn was standing.

“I’m fine,” Zayn replied distractedly, looking over to make sure Harry was okay too.

Harry was biting his lip and looking at Zayn with worried eyes. He didn’t look like a kicked puppy, he looked like a puppy expecting to get kicked, as if knocking Zayn down would be the point at which Zayn turned on him. He offered a weak smile, but there was something about the slump of his shoulders that screamed resignation.

“Chin up Harry, it’s all good,” Zayn told him, smiling back at him. Niall gave him a soft pat on the back and a quick wink before he wandered off back to his partner.

“They grabbed my tail,” Harry said, a note of apology in his voice.

Zayn shrugged. “Not like I’m worried about it, bro. Sports aren’t my thing.”

They moved to sit outside the boundary and Zayn used watching Liam, Louis, and Niall still playing to ignore the way his heart fluttered at the way Harry beamed at him.

In the end the whole game came down to Liam and Louis against two duos and Zayn had to admit he was impressed. Even being tag teamed they were able to dodge every attempt to grab their bandana; they moved together almost flawlessly. Liam managed to snag the bandana off one of their opponents and the odds were evened. Louis had a cocky grin on his face and Liam just had a look of stone faced concentration as the other two boys stared them down. It was all a little ridiculously dramatic to Zayn, but then he’d never really gotten sports anyway.

“C’mon lads, get ‘em,” Niall shouted from the other side of Harry.

Zayn watched with only mild interest as the two duos danced around each other. It was mildly amusing to watch Louis swinging his ass around trying to keep the bandana out of the other team’s grasp. Both counselors had to keep blowing their whistles and warning the boys not to push at each other. In the end it came down to a perfectly timed twist and lunge allowing Liam to grab their opponent’s bandana.

The rest of their team jumped up, cheering their victory, while Zayn stayed where he was with Harry beside him. They only got up when Niall came over and insisted they join the celebration. Zayn wondered if Niall was aware of the way the other boys avoided Harry, actually cringing away from him like he carried some kind of disease. 

It made Zayn want to rage against them, but as far as he could see Harry wasn’t bothered by it. He was either a really good actor or he actually didn’t care. Zayn wasn’t sure which one he would have rathered it be.

++++

Dinner turned out to be the first real issue when the only offering for the entree was a slab of ham. He frowned at it and pulled his plate back as the cook went to place it on there. A boy to his side grumbled at him to hurry up.

“I...I don’t eat pork,” Zayn told the cook hesitantly. He tried to prepare himself for the scorn he imagined would be aimed his way. “Do you have anything else?”

The frown that had been on the cook’s face cleared up and she looked apologetic. “Oh honey, I wish you’d said something sooner. I don’t have anything prepared tonight, but you can have a little extra of the sides and from now on I’ll have something prepared just for you.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” he said, relief flooding through him at her easy acceptance.

With his double portion of sides, Zayn headed to the table where Harry and Niall were sitting. He’d no sooner sat down than Liam and a reluctant looking Louis joined them. The look Niall gave them was the most unfriendly Zayn had seen Niall look all day, but he seemed to honor Harry’s wishes to leave well enough alone.

“Didn’t they give you any ham?” Louis asked, pointing his fork toward Zayn’s plate.

Zayn shrugged. “Don’t eat pork.”

“Well that’s shit, who doesn’t eat pork?”

Harry looked up at Louis with a frown. “Vegans, vegetarians, some religions prohibit it--.” 

“Christ, alright I get it,” Louis said exasperatedly.

Even though Louis hadn’t really been attacking him, Zayn still felt a little bit like Harry had been defending him. It warmed him up inside and it felt like a reassurance that he’d made the right decision when he picked Harry over being accepted by the rest of the cabin. Not that being accepted had ever been anything he’d been worried about.

“I saw Erik trip you,” Liam said suddenly, looking at Harry. “when you fell and took Zayn down with you. Why didn’t you tell Bressie?”

Harry shrugged. “Don’t really wanna add snitch to the reasons they hate me.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Niall demanded, glaring at Liam.

“I didn’t think Harry would want anyone to draw attention to it,” said Liam, flicking an unsure look in Harry direction.

“And I told him not to be a snitch,” Louis added. “And before you go off, Irish, I would have told him that no matter who was tripped up or whatever. Doesn’t have a thing to do with the fact that it was Styles here.”

“Yeah I bet,” Niall hissed, but he relaxed a little when Harry touched his shoulder.

The table fell silent as they focused on eating their food. Zayn missed the easy, comfortable silence between Harry and him earlier in the day. The tension that filled the air made his skin crawl.

“Ugh, I don’t know who’s getting more to eat, me or the mosquitoes,” a voice complained from the table behind Zayn.

“They seem worse than ever,” another boy agreed.

Strange, Zayn thought. He hadn’t been bitten once as far as he could tell. In fact, nobody else at their table seemed to be having any trouble. Once he started thinking about it he realized that he hadn’t been bothered by mosquitoes or any other kind of insect since arriving at camp.

Well, he certainly wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth for that one.

++++

Zayn couldn’t sleep. One of the boys had the most obnoxious snore he’d ever heard and there was an owl close by that wouldn’t stop hooting. Everytime he’d start to drift off the damn thing would hoot or the boy would snore and he’d be fully awake again.

Being that he was a person who enjoyed his sleep, it was a fully unacceptable turn of events. It was worse than being sent to the stupid camp to start with. He turned into the worst kind of grouch if he didn’t get the right amount of sleep; instead of Beauty he became the Beast.

He was mentally visualizing himself with fur, claws, and a big overbite when he heard the barest hint of someone whispering. It was so soft he almost thought he imagined it, but then he heard it again followed by the sound of movement. He cracked his eyes open and looked toward the source of the disturbance to see two barely visible figures moving through the weak light from the moon.

It was just dark enough that he couldn’t tell who it was and that just made him curious. As he watched the two figures slipped nearly silently out of the door. He didn’t even stop to think before he quietly got out of bed and slipped on his shoes to follow them.

The cloudless sky meant there was plenty of moonlight to see by and he caught the flicker of movement in the corner of his eye. He crept as quietly as he could, following the figures as they went around the side of the cabin and into a small grouping of trees that hid them from sight. He felt a little bit like a spy on a covert mission, but he just wanted to know what was going on.

Carefully, so as to hopefully not attract attention, Zayn peaked around one of the trees. He was surprised at what he saw to say the least. He could see that the two previously unidentified figures were in fact Liam and Louis, but the part that really surprised him was that Louis had Liam shoved against a tree and seemed to be very intent on finding Liam’s tonsils. He also couldn’t tell exactly, but he wasn’t entirely sure where one of Louis’s hands was, but both of Liam’s were on Louis’s ass pulling him closer.

Zayn had his answer as to what they were up to and his first instinct was to just leave them to it, but another part of him saw opportunity. A plan quickly took shape. The only problem was it hinged entirely on how much the other boys didn’t want to get in trouble for this.

He gave up the pretense of hiding and stepped out to where they would be able to see him. They were too into each other to notice him, so he rustled the tree branches. The other two boys immediately sprang apart and Louis almost fell in his haste to put distance between himself and Liam while also trying to turn to face Zayn. It was only Liam’s quick reflexes that saved him.

“What are you doing out here?” Louis demanded as much as he could while still keeping his voice low.

“I couldn’t sleep so I heard you guys sneak out, wondered what you were up to,” Zayn answered, approaching them so that they could speak quietly. “Gotta say I didn’t see this coming.”

Louis’s face hardened and his eyes went as cold. “If you’re gonna be an asshole about this--.”

“Whoa, I don’t have a problem with you guys making out or whatever,” Zayn said quickly, looking them both in the face so they could read the sincerity in his eyes. He kept eye contact with Louis until the other boy’s expression smoothed out and the ice in his eyes melted.

“Well then, if you don’t mind--.”

“I’m not done,” Zayn interrupted Louis once again. “I have a proposal for you two, seeing as I’ve caught you sneaking out of the cabin after hours. I’m sure that’s frowned upon.”

Louis looked angry again, but Liam placed a hand on his arm. “Gonna blackmail your friends, Zayn?”

“If you want to look at it that way,” Zayn replied. His stomach twisted a little at the upset look Liam gave him, but he soldiered on. “I just want you two to give Harry an honest chance and no more of this standing by and letting those dickheads get away with bullying him.”

“Why do you insist on being friends with him? He’s so weird and you’re just making yourself a target too,” Louis said in exasperation.

“C’mon, Lou, he’s not that weird,” Liam protested softly.

Louis rolled his eyes. “I saw the kid talking to birds once, like carrying on a full conversation with them as if they were talking back.”

“Maybe he was talking to the birds because Niall is the only person that’ll give him a chance,” Zayn said as calmly as he could. Hearing Louis call Harry weird was making his blood boil, but he knew Liam would hate him if he decked Louis for it.

Liam’s eyes widened at Zayn’s words and he looked a little bit like he’d witnessed a puppy being kicked. “That’s really sad when you put it like that.”

“Liam, no,” Louis said softly, turning to face the other boy. “We’ll take the punishment for sneaking out.”

Zayn felt a little bit like he was watching a movie and he’d missed a crucial scene. It felt charged, like there was something more going on than just what he was hearing and seeing. There was a piece of the puzzle missing.

Liam cupped Louis’s cheek and leaned down to give him a soft peck. “It’ll be okay, Lou.”

There was a long silent moment as the two boys stared at each other, Louis clearly searching Liam’s face for something. Zayn shifted uncomfortably at the feeling that he was seeing something really private. Then Louis let out a sigh and looked away from Liam, breaking the moment.

“Fine,” he all but growled. He started to walk back toward the cabin, but when he reached Zayn he stopped and leaned in closer so that Liam wouldn’t be able to hear. “If he gets hurt I’ll kick your ass.” And then he continued on his way.

Liam walked closer to Zayn, but his eyes followed Louis’s retreating back. “What did he say to you?”

“Nothing,” Zayn said quickly. 

The look on Liam’s face clearly said he didn’t believe Zayn, but he didn’t push. They walked back to the cabin together, but before they rounded the corner to go back in, Liam grabbed his arm and pulled him to a stop.

“Listen, while I’m giving Harry a chance, will you do the same for Louis? I know he seems like an asshole with this whole situation, but I promise you he’s not,” Liam implored softly.

Zayn did think Louis was an asshole, but he still wanted Liam to be his friend. If that meant putting up with Louis then he was willing to make that sacrifice.

++++

The next morning dawned too bright and too early when Bressie came in to wake them up. Zayn groaned and tried to bury himself under the covers, but someone sat on the edge of the bed and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. He peered out to see Harry smiling at him.

“You’ve got about an hour to get up and get ready before breakfast,” Harry told him. “I don’t know if you like a morning shower or not, but that hour will go by fast if you lay in bed.”

“Speaking from experience?” Zayn mumbled into his pillow.

Harry grinned at him. Obviously Harry was the worst kind of person in Zayn’s book: a morning person. Zayn waved him away and sat up, swinging his legs to the side so that he could sit on the edge of his bed and drop his head into his hands.

“Didn’t sleep last night?” Harry asked when Zayn finally got up and went to his cubby in the bathroom for his stuff to brush his teeth.

“There was an owl outside, every time I’d start to drift off the thing would hoot and wake me up,” Zayn said, then started to brush his teeth so he wouldn’t be expected to say anything else.

Harry made a soft sound, like he was taking what Zayn said into consideration and then he disappeared into one of the shower stalls as it became available. Zayn finished brushing his teeth and decided against taking a shower. He had no doubt he’d want one later that night anyway and there was no point wasting the water for two showers.

It wasn’t until they were all sat around eating breakfast that Zayn really started to wake up. In fact, Harry seemed like the only morning person of the group as even Niall barely did anything more than grunt at Harry’s happy chatter. Louis looked a little bit like he was thinking of cramming his toast in Harry’s mouth to shut him up, while Liam looked like he was ready to stop Louis from doing anything drastic.

Once they were done eating Bressie had them gather around him outside. “Alright lads, most you know what’s going to happen now, but for the few of you that don’t, here’s how things are going to work for the next month. You’re going to pick two specialties. One will be an art or skill and one will be a sport.”

Zayn dreaded the idea of a sport. There wasn’t a single sport he’d ever really enjoyed playing and he couldn’t imagine it would be any different. He made a face at Harry, who grinned and giggled at him.

“And I don’t want to hear any arguments about how some of the things on the art and skill list can be considered a sport too,” Bressie said, his gaze fixing on Louis. “Just pick one from each category. If for some reason you find out you don’t like one of the activities you pick then you’ll be allowed to ask someone to switch, this isn’t school, we don’t want you do anything you don’t like.”

But what if we don’t like any sports? Zayn almost asked, but decided to keep quiet. 

“Alright let’s make this quick. The sports you can choose from are volleyball, basketball, tag football, and ultimate frisbee. There are five to a team and at the end of the month there will be tournaments to earn points for the team as a whole,” Bressie went on. “Think about which one you want to participate in for tomorrow. For now, pick one of the arts or skills, that’s what you’ll be doing for the next two hours.”

Zayn felt a little better that he had time to think about it and maybe even decide with the other four boys what to do. He didn’t think doing a sport would be so bad if he could be on a team with just the other four boys.

“There’s arts and crafts, woodworking, leatherworking, archery, and tracking. When I call your name pick one,” Bressie said and then started calling out names.

“What are you gonna do?” Harry asked.

Zayn thought for a moment. He could do arts and crafts at home, so even though that was the safest option it also seemed like a waste when he could learn something new. He definitely wasn’t interested in tracking and archery didn’t sound like him either. Which left him only two options.

“I think I’m gonna try woodworking,” Zayn answered.

“Harry Styles,” Bressie called out.

“Woodworking,” Harry said while grinning at Zayn. Zayn swallowed at the way his belly swooped.

“Don’t cut your fingers off,” one of the boys in the middle of the group joked.

“Shut it, Marcus,” came Louis’s immediate response, much to Zayn’s surprise.

“None of that, lads,” Bressie said sharply.

Zayn looked over at Harry as Bressie continued to call out names, but Harry was looking at Louis with that same mix of suspicion and hopefulness that he’d looked at Zayn the day before. It made Zayn sad to think that Harry couldn’t just take that someone was being nice to him or standing up for him at face value, that he had learned to assume there was an ulterior motive.

Liam nudged him suddenly. “He’s calling you, bro.”

“Oh.” Zayn could feel the heat rise in his cheeks. “Woodworking.”

He was a little disappointed when the other three boys chose archery or tracking, but at least he had Harry.

The two hours in woodworking was spent learning the rules of safety and basics in whittling. He learned they would also be taught how to use wood burning kits. For the first time since arriving at the camp, Zayn was actually excited about being there.

That mood lasted all the way through the spirited game of something inspired by charades, through lunch and the hour of free time they had in the cabin afterwards, which he spent debating superheroes with Liam and Louis. It was only when they were led back to the big field to play another active game that things went downhill. Bressie called it Star Wars tag, which didn’t sound too bad until he revealed it was a combination of tag and dodgeball.

“That sounds like a terrible idea,” Zayn complained to Liam, who actually looked excited at the prospect. “I’m shit at dodgeball.”

“It’s not so bad,” Liam tried to assure him, which was easy for him to say.

He actually turned out to be right, for the most part. The nerf balls, which were being called death stars for the game, were a lot softer than the balls of doom in P.E so it didn’t hurt as much to get hit by them, including the one he took to the face. They also turned out to be easier to catch and he found himself doing a lot better than he ever had in actual dodgeball.

The problem for him came when Harry was hit by the other team. Once hit he had to freeze and wait for their “Jedi” to hop over (on one foot, which Zayn thought was completely ridiculous) and tap Harry with his “lightsaber” (a blue pool noodle) before he could move again. Except the Jedi kept going and unfreezing other boys, but he never went over to Harry.

“Go unfreeze Harry,” Zayn said when the Jedi hopped over to unfreeze him.

The other boy sneered at him. “Team is better off without bambi legs stumbling around everywhere.”

Liam suddenly appeared behind the boy. “Jonas, go unfreeze Harry, now.”

At that very moment one of the death stars smacked into Jonas and Zayn was reminded that the game as still going on around them. It had taken a backseat to his frustration at the way the other boys were treating Harry. He didn’t even care about the game anymore even though he could hear their team yelling at them. They were upset because with Jonas frozen anybody who was hit would be frozen until the end of the game, making winning so much harder.

“Why do you care about the freak all of a sudden, Payne?” Jonas demanded as he threw down the pool noodle.

“Don’t call him that,” Zayn hissed, he didn’t even flinch as one of the nerf balls hit him square in the back. He was really glad that Harry was far enough away not to hear them.

“Maybe I’m tired of you being a dick for no reason,” Liam said, straightening up into a posture that just screamed danger to anyone smart enough to read it. “You and your boys are going to back off of Harry from now on.”

Zayn couldn’t see Jonas’s face, but he could imagine the disgust on his face by the way his voice dripped with it. “Whatever, Payne. Louis is the only reason anyone ever gave you the time of day anyway.”

“Not the people that matter,” Liam said fiercely, his eyes flicking to meet Zayn’s over Jonas’s shoulder. Zayn’s mind flashed back to the previous night and Louis’ warning about Liam being hurt and realized that there might have been a silent again attached to it.

“Oh gag me,” Jonas sneered. “Just play the fucking game.”

For a moment Liam looked very much like he might punch out Jonas rather than go back to the game until Bressie shouted at him that standing behind frozen players was cheating. Liam darted away to keep playing, leaving Zayn staring angrily at the back of Jonas’s head. The temptation to bend down and pick up a rock to throw was pretty strong, but he wasn’t actually a violent person no matter how angry the other boy made him.

Their team ended up losing, not that Zayn gave a damn, but the rest of the team did. Jonas was quick to spread the word that their loss was due to Liam and Zayn distracting him by demanding he unfreeze Harry. Louis and Niall were the only two who didn’t give them dirty looks while Harry looked torn between being amazed and worried, like someone was flipping a switch inside of him back and forth.

“Y’all don’t have to keep doing that, y’know,” Harry said as they fell in behind the rest of the team. Bressie was leading them somewhere, probably to the next activity.

“Doing what?” Liam asked, his eyebrows drawn together.

“Picking fights with them for me.”

Zayn opened his mouth to argue, but Niall spoke first, “Don’t waste your breath, mate. He’s been refusing to let me tell those wankers off for years.”

“I don’t need rescuing from the big bad bullies,” Harry said, calm as ever, but there was a band of steel in his voice. “They’re harmless. It’s not like they’re cornering me in the bathroom and beating me up.”

“You deserve better,” Zayn argued, incredulous at the idea of letting the other boys continue to treat Harry the way they had been.

“I appreciate that you want to stand up for me, but, like, I don’t want that,” Harry insisted. 

Zayn was about to argue back when the trail they were walking on broke through the treeline and he saw their destination: a huge lake. The setting sun was reflecting off of it in a magnificent display of reds and golds, almost as if the lake was on fire. It was as beautiful as it was terrifying.

“Zayn, are you alright, dude?” Liam asked, touching his shoulder.

“I’m-I might be a little...uncomfortable around water,” Zayn said hesitantly, watching their reactions for any judgement.

The other four boys shared a look, but they didn’t say anything as they trooped closer and closer to the lake. Zayn was silently gearing himself up for asking Bressie to sit out of whatever water related activities they were about to engage in. The very thought of being in water that deep made his blood feel like ice in his veins.

“You’ve got the rest of the time until dinner to mess about at the lake,” Bressie said as they walked down the final slope to the banks of the lake. 

It seemed like the rest of the camp was there as well. Most of the boys were in the lake doing various activities while all of the counselors were either participating or keeping an eye on them. 

“Go on then, lads, off with ya,” Bressie said and the rest of the boys took off for the water. He looked over and spotted Zayn still standing there. “What’s wrong, lad? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I’m...not a fan of water,” Zayn answered nervously, honestly afraid that he’d be made to get in the water anyway.

Bressie smiled and clapped him on the shoulder. “You can sit out if you want. Might be a bit boring for ya, though.”

“I’ll keep him company.”

Zayn turned and was surprised to see the other four boys still there. He’d assumed they’d rushed off with all the other boys. Louis looked like he was ready to head off, but Niall and Liam looked concerned and Harry was the one who’d spoken.

“You don’t have to miss out on the fun for me,” Zayn argued, even though having someone to sit with him did sound nice.

“We’ll take turns,” Louis said, much to Zayn surprise. He still wasn’t sure if Louis liked him or not, but the small smile he gave Zayn felt a little like a peace offering.

Bressie shrugged. “You lads figure out what you want to do, just stay within sight.”

It ended up being an enjoyable couple of hours with the other boys taking turns keeping him company. By the time the counselors called an end to the activities so they could clean up before dinner, Zayn felt just a little bit closer to each of them.

++++

The damn owl was hooting again. Zayn tried pulling the covers over his head, but that didn’t work. He buried his head under his pillow to no avail.

There was no telling how long he laid there hoping to fall asleep while the owl’s hooting drove a nail into his brain. He heard the rustling of the sheets above his head and peeked out from under his pillow to see Harry carefully climbing down the ladder. Zayn closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep and felt Harry’s eyes on him for a moment before he heard silently crept away.

As soon as Harry was out of the door, Zayn threw off his sheets and went to put his own shoes on to follow. He was hit with a sense of déjà vu as for the second night in a row he was sneaking out. He even headed around the same corner as the previous night, but he had to pull back almost immediately as Harry was just standing at one of the trees.

“Erm, Mr. Owl. like I know you're probably....having a hoot being here, but my friend you see, he can't sleep. So if you could just like go somewhere else, that would be great."

Zayn couldn’t even believe what he was hearing. Harry was the most ridiculously endearing person he’d ever met. He couldn’t believe the other boy was out there in the middle of the night _trying to ask an owl_ to go somewhere else. And he was doing it for Zayn, to try and help him be able to sleep.

Zayn smiled to himself and almost turned around to go back inside, but just before he did he spotted movement in the air above Harry. It happened so fast he couldn’t even think of calling out before the owl swooped inches above Harry’s head. It was so close its feathers ruffled Harry’s hair.

“Thank you!” Harry whisper shouted and Zayn could swear that he heard a hoot in return.

It was a scene that got even more surreal as Harry sat himself down on the ground with his back to the tree and not even seconds later an opossum scurried down the tree. It crawled onto Harry’s shoulder who then held out his arm and the next thing Zayn knew Harry had an opossum hanging off his arm. Zayn rubbed his eyes and pinched his arm just to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.

Harry’s lips were moving, but he was talking too softly for Zayn to hear. He couldn’t imagine what Harry could possibly be saying to an opossum; it wasn’t like it could understand him.

When he saw two mice crawl up Harry’s legs, that was when Zayn decided he’d seen enough and went back inside. He took of his shoes and climbed in bed, but it wasn’t the owl that kept him awake then. He couldn’t help but keep replaying the scene over in his head. It was all so weird he almost couldn’t believe it had happened.

He couldn’t sleep that night for a completely different reason.

++++

For the next week Zayn grew closer to the other four boys, but even more satisfying was watching Liam and Louis accept Harry and actually make an effort to get to know him. Zayn could tell Niall was still a little careful about them, about trusting Harry with Liam and Louis, Louis especially, but he was slowly warming up to them as well. He got the feeling Niall was the type of person to quickly forgive when it came to himself, but was much slower when it came to someone hurting his friends.

All the while, Zayn couldn’t get what he’d witnessed out of his head. It had been one of the strangest things he’d ever seen. No amount of analyzing it could make sense of any part of it. From the owl actually leaving the tree to the animals frolicking around Harry. None of it made sense.

Still, he didn’t let it color the way he interacted with Harry. Whatever had been going on that night didn’t change the way Zayn felt warm inside when Harry smiled at him or the butterflies that fluttered in his belly when he heard that low, sweet drawl.

The other boys were mostly leaving them alone other than the odd snide remark here or there. Until they must have gotten bored and decided to up their game.

It was Special Spaghetti Sunday, which Zayn had learned was one of the highlights of the camp. The spaghetti was some of the best he’d ever had and the fresh made garlic bread was pretty fantastic too. Liam in particular turned into an excited puppy for dinner every Sunday. It was so endearing that Louis didn’t even give him shit for it.

Zayn was walking behind Liam on their way back to the table that had become theirs when he spotted Jonas and some of the other boys walking towards them. With so many counselors in the room, Zayn didn’t expect for Jonas to reach out and smack Liam’s tray up into his face. Spaghetti splattered everywhere and the resulting clatter drew the attention of the whole cafeteria. Zayn could read the shock in Liam’s stiff back, in the way he was completely frozen.

“My bad,” Jonas sneered while his cronies snickered.

“Jonas Miller!” Paul all but roared from the counselor’s table. The fury on his face was a little terrifying. “Get over here, right now!”

Jonas shot a smirk at Liam before he walked away and it took everything in Zayn not to follow and punch it off his face. Instead he shoved his tray into the chest of one of Jonas’ cronies and turned to Liam, stepping in front of his friend. The way Liam was frozen made worry twist in his gut.

“C’mon Liam, let’s get you cleaned up,” Zayn said softly, grabbing Liam by the elbow. At the same time Louis appeared at Liam’s other side.

“I’ll take care of him,” Louis said and his voice brooked no argument.

Zayn watched them go before he turned and went to their table where Harry and Niall were standing as if they were ready to follow. They sat down when he did, but Harry looked the most upset Zayn had ever seen him.

“I’m not sure exactly what you’re thinking, but stop it,” Zayn said, drawing Harry’s attention to him. “You’re not to blame for what those dickheads do.”

“Yeah mate, you’re not responsible for them,” Niall said, laying a soothing hand on Harry’s shoulder.

Harry didn’t look convinced, but he let it drop. Liam and Louis didn’t return to the cafeteria. The spaghetti didn’t taste as good as usual that night.

++++

Incidents like that continued to happen after that, though the other boys got better at being sneaky about it. Zayn could see the guilt weighing down on Harry no matter how many times they said he wasn’t to blame for it. More than one time they’d had to hold Niall back from going after Jonas.

It all came to a head during a basketball game against the purple team. They were down by a point and trying hard to come back when a boy on the other team threw an elbow straight into Liam’s face. He cried out and stumbled back, hands immediately going to his face as blood started pouring from his nose.

“Jacobson!” the other cabin’s counselor bellowed from the sidelines, but Zayn didn’t pay him any attention as he rushed over to Liam.

Louis got there first and to Zayn’s surprise he held out a hand to push Zayn back, his glare as sharp as a ragged piece of ice. “You stay back.”

“Lou,” Liam mumbled between his hands clasped to his face. Blood was dripping down his fingers, trailing down his wrists.

“No, it’s his fault this is happening,” Louis growled. “If you hadn’t blackmailed us into hanging out with that freak then none of this would have happened.”

“Louis!” Liam yelled, forgetting about his bloody nose.

“Don’t you ever call him that!” Niall roared at the same time and lunged at Louis, shoving him rough enough to knock him down. Liam moved to put himself between them, holding out one bloody hand as if to keep Niall back while his other hand covered his nose again.

Zayn was frozen, unsure of what to do until somehow, over all the noise, he heard a soft sob. It cut straight down to his heart and he turned to see Harry watching them with a hand over his mouth. Zayn had just enough time to see tears trickling down Harry’s cheeks before the other boy turned and bolted into the forest.

“Louis, take Liam to the nurse, now,” Bressie ordered, anger vibrating in his voice, “Zayn and Niall, go to the main cabin, the rest of my team, back to the cabin.”

“What about Harry?” Zayn asked cautiously, “he took off into the forest.”

“I’m sure he won’t go too far, we’ll give him a bit to come back,” Bressie replied.

Zayn spared a glance in the direction Harry had disappeared in before he turned his attention Niall, who was still fuming. He hesitantly stepped over to him, unsure how Niall was going to react to him. Niall gave him such a mean look that Zayn couldn’t help but take a step back before he turned and walked away, leaving Zayn standing there feeling like everything was crumbling around him.

++++

Zayn shifted uncomfortably in his seat. The room he and Niall were waiting in was uncomfortably silent. Niall had started off glaring at him with so much fury he’d been sure that the other boy was going to lunge at him like he had Louis, but after a few minutes he’d switched to pretending Zayn didn’t exist at all. Zayn wasn’t sure which was worse.

They both started as the door opened and Bressie ushered in Liam and Louis. Liam looked a little worse for wear and was holding a cold compress to his face while Louis actually looked a little scared, his eyes flicking nervously to Niall, who had tensed up at their arrival.

“Are you lads going to be mature and talk this out or do I have to babysit you?” Bressie asked as he stood in the doorway, nearly filling it with his bulk.

Zayn looked at Liam and Louis and could see in their eyes that they weren’t excited about the prospect of Bressie being in the room with them; Niall wouldn’t look at any of them.

“We’ll be mature,” Zayn said.

Bressie eyed them all for a moment before his eyes fixed on Niall. “There’ll be no more of that shoving business, right?”

“Not worth it,” Niall muttered.

That seemed to satisfy Bressie and he stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him. The room was silent again, but Zayn wasn’t in any hurry to break it. He wasn’t the one that needed to talk first, he wasn’t the one who had screwed up the worst, even though he could recognize that he’d done so.

“I’m sorry, okay,” Louis blurted out suddenly. Niall actually looked at him then, but his face was a mask of stone. “I didn’t mean what I said, I really didn’t. I don’t think Harry is a freak. I saw Liam hurt and I snapped.”

Niall’s expression didn’t change at all. “That’s it? Your boyfriend was hurt so you thought you’d say the most hurtful thing you possibly could?”

“I didn’t mean it,” Louis protested.

“That doesn’t excuse it, mate,” Niall said, the stoney expression cracking in his anger once again. “Harry deserves better than you lot.”

For a moment Louis looked like he was going to get worked up too, but then he took a deep breath and held it for a moment before he let it out slowly.

“When Zayn first handed us the ultimatum to hang out with Harry or he’d bust us for sneaking out after lights out, I didn’t want to do it. Not because I think Harry is a freak, but because I knew how the other boys would react,” Louis held up a hand as Niall started to say something, “Not because I was worried about my reputation or whatever it is you’re thinking, Niall.”

“He was worried I’d be a target again,” Liam spoke up, his voice slightly muffled behind the compress.

Zayn flashed back to the looks and quiet words Liam and Louis had exchanged when he’d made the ultimatum. Suddenly it all made a whole more sense.

“Liam won’t tell me about it, but I know he’s still being bullied at school and maybe it was selfish of me, but I just wanted camp to be a safe place for him,” Louis went on. “I didn’t mean for that to be at Harry’s expense, I really didn’t.”

As Louis spoke the anger seemed to slowly drain out of Niall. Zayn held his breath as he waited, hoping that maybe things were fixable after all. They’d still need to talk to Harry, but he knew that they had to go through Niall first.

“He gets bullied at school too, y’know,” Niall said eventually. “I keep telling him not to come here just to see me, but he won’t listen. He says I’m not his only friend here and he likes being so close to nature.”

“I really am sorry and I’ll tell him that too, I promise,” Louis said quickly, almost urgently like he was desperate for Niall to believe him. “I already told Paul and Simon what’s been going on with Jonas and the others, so they should be putting an end to that.”

Niall crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, but he looked relaxed, which Zayn took as a good sign. “Well, I’m not the one who has to forgive you anyway. If Harry forgives you then it’s all good, if not then that’s it.” Then, his gaze swung to Zayn and his eyes hardened just a little bit. “And you, what the hell were you thinking? He doesn’t need to be anyone’s charity case, he just needs friends.”

That stung a little, but he was aware of the fact that he deserved it. “I wanted us all to be friends. I just wanted Harry to have more friends.”

Niall’s expression went soft and he sighed deeply. “I can’t even stay mad at you, but listen, you need to be careful with Harry, yeah?”

At that moment the door opened and Bressie peeked his head in. “Lads, Harry hasn’t come back so we’re putting together search teams. If you’ve sorted yourselves out you can go.”

“We’re good,” Zayn said, then shot a look at Niall for confirmation. Niall gave him a smile and thumbs up.

“We need to find him before it gets dark,” Bressie said, then turned his head to look at Liam. “I hear you’ve been doing well in tracking, feel confident leading this bunch into the forest?”

“Yes,” Liam said without a moment’s hesitation.

“Alright, c’mon then, we’ve got to get everyone sorted to head out.”

++++

“How did he get so far in such a short time?” Louis grumbled as they stopped so that Liam could make a mark on a tree.

Zayn wasn’t sure how long they’d been searching for, but it was a lot longer than any of them had expected. With Harry on foot he shouldn’t have been able to get too terribly far, not when Harry hadn’t really done too well on the hike they’d gone on the previous week. Yet, Zayn was fairly sure they were close to a mile away from the camp.

The walkie talkie in Niall’s hand suddenly crackled to life, “Search teams check in, please.”

Niall waited until it was their turn and then reported they’d yet to find Harry and their location according to Liam’s map. The teams had all started from the point that Harry had disappeared into the forest and then fanned out while those left at camp were ready to report if he returned on his own. The longer it was taking the more Zayn worried and he could see that same feeling echoed on his friends’ faces.

They continued up the slope they were on until it crested and flattened out somewhat. Liam made another mark on a tree, because he was meticulous, and they kept going. Zayn was definitely feeling the strain of it, and even though he wanted to keep going, when they reached a small clearing with a fallen tree he insisted on a short break.

“That’s what you get for smoking,” Liam teased, though it was still slightly hesitant. He’d given up the cold compress for the search and there was definitely a darkening patch around his eye. He was going to have an impressive black eye in the morning.

“We’re all lucky I’m not going through withdrawals honestly,” Zayn said as he sat down to catch his breath.

Liam looked like he was going to say something, probably start a lecture, but before he could Niall made a noise that drew their attention. Zayn looked to see his friend was pointing at something across the clearing. That something turned out to be two bear cubs that were rolling and tumbling around and clearly hadn’t spotted the four humans across the clearing yet.

“We need to get out of here,” Zayn whispered as quietly as he could and still be heard.

“They’re so cute though,” Niall replied, his face lit up with wonder.

“And the mama bear is not far away,” Zayn said, looking around nervously.

Louis made a sudden, startled squeaking sound and the color drained from his face like someone had pulled a plug. Zayn knew without looking behind him that the mama bear was there. They all instinctively froze, but they were in the open, there was no way she didn’t see them.

Zayn couldn’t breathe as she let out a low rumble and took a step out of the treeline. She was only a couple hundred feet away, there was no chance of them getting away. At least not all of them. His heart hammered in his chest and thundered in his ears.

“What do we do?” Louis asked softly, his voice trembling with fear. “Liam, what do we do.”

“If we run she’ll chase us,” Liam whispered, it was obvious he was trying to stay calm and steady. “We’re between her and her cubs though, she’s not going to leave.”

Niall whined low and pathetic, like he couldn’t help it. Zayn wanted to reach out and comfort him, but he his whole body was locked up.

Then the bear bellowed and took a step towards them, Zayn was pretty sure he was actually going to piss his pants. He had the brief thought that they should at least attempt to run, but before he could say anything the bear charged. His brain was telling his legs to move, but he couldn’t move.

“Zayn, fucking run!” Louis shouted.

And then suddenly, completely out of nowhere, Harry was right in front of him. The other boy’s arms were spread wide as if he could protect them all.

“Please stop,” Harry shouted, and to Zayn’s utter amazement, the bear did. “Please don’t hurt my friends, mama bear. I promise they weren’t trying to hurt your babies, I promise.”

The bear was making what sounded like some really unhappy huffing noises, but she’d stopped moving.

“Please, please, just let us leave, please,” Harry begged with tears in his voice.

If Zayn didn’t know better he would have sworn that the bears face actually softened, but he knew that wasn’t possible. Still, she gave one last unhappy huff before actually stepping backwards.

“Thank you, thank you, mama bear,” Harry said fervently, and then spun around and grabbed Zayn. “Let’s go, now, before she changes her mind.”

Zayn was so very confused, but the prospect of actually getting to live spurred him into action. He and the other four boys walked swiftly back towards the path they’d come up from. It was only after they’d gotten a significant way down the path that Liam brought them all to a stop. He was still shaking as he took the walkie talkie from Niall and reported they’d found Harry and were heading back, but they didn’t start moving again while they all tried to recover.

“What the hell was that?” Louis demanded once he’d seemed to catch his breath, wide eyes fixed on Harry. “Am I going crazy or did he just talk a bear out of killing us all?”

“No, that definitely just happened,” Zayn said, also watching Harry, who was biting his lip nervously.

Harry shifted from foot to foot and pushed a shaky hand through his curls. “If I tell y’all something do you promise to, like, not freak out?”

“I don’t think anything you tell us could be worse than what we just experienced, mate,” Niall said dryly from where he was leaning against a tree for support.

“Fair point,” Harry acknowledged. “Well, y’see, I’m kinda like, y’know Doctor Dolittle?”

There was silence for a long moment.

“Are you trying to say you can talk to animals?” Louis asked, more curious than incredulous. What they’d witnessed lent some credit to his statement.

“Well, not exactly talk to them,” Harry said, “it’s kinda weird, like, the way we communicate. Like, mama bear didn’t understand my words, just like, the emotion behind it and the idea?”

“Like when you asked the owl to leave so I could sleep?” Zayn asked.

Harry’s cheeks flushed red and he ducked his head slightly. “You heard that?”

“Well, I couldn’t sleep after all,” Zayn pointed out. “I saw you sneak out and followed.”

“He likes to sneak,” Louis teased, though he sounded a bit hesitant.

“Is that how he got blackmail material on you?” Harry asked, raising an eyebrow at Louis.

Louis had the good grace to look ashamed. “Look Harry, about what I said. I didn’t mean any of it. I mean, Zayn did blackmail us into hanging out with you at first,” at Harry’s hurt look, Louis quickly went on, “but once we started hanging out I started to really like you, y’know? And I know I can speak for Liam when I say we’d like to stay friends, if you can forgive me.”

Someone else may have tried to make Louis squirm by not giving away what they were thinking, but it was pretty clear Harry’s face. Zayn was a little surprised by how easy it was, but only a little. Harry seemed to be a soft hearted person by nature

“Let’s give this friendship thing a shot for real this time.”

++++

They didn’t tell the counselors or anyone else about their experience with the bear and after Harry was given a strong talking to for running off like that, they were allowed to go back to their cabin. Before he could go in, Zayn grabbed Harry by the elbow and gently pulled him to a stop. He asked Bressie if they could have a moment and then led Harry around the side of the cabin.

Zayn took Harry up to where he’d caught Liam and Louis so that they could have a little privacy. Out in the forest with the other boys around them just hadn’t felt like the right time for Zayn to make amends.

“Are you okay?” Harry asked, his eyebrows twisted with concern.

Zayn’s heart fluttered with affection for the other boy. “I’m fine, Harry. Well, as well as I can be for almost dying earlier.”

“Scariest moment of my life seeing my friends in danger like that,” Harry said, shuddering at the memory. “I wasn’t even sure she would listen to me, but you were just standing there and I had to do something.”

“You threw yourself in front of a bear without knowing if your ability would work?” Zayn asked, horrified and grateful at the same time.

“I saw you and didn’t even stop to think,” Harry answered, shrugging like it was no big deal even though they both knew it was. He swallowed hard and looked away from Zayn for a split second. “Honestly, I really like you, Zayn. More than I probably should, and if you hate me after this then so be it, but I think you’re so intelligent, incredibly funny, and absolutely the most gorgeous person I’ve ever seen.”

Zayn blushed and ducked his head. “My plan was to apologize to you and explain.”

“I don’t need you to apologize or explain anything though,” Harry said as he stepped in closer. “I understand why you did what you did, I understood five minutes after I found out. It probably wasn’t the best plan in the world, but it’s turned out alright.”

Zayn looked up again and studied Harry’s face; he just couldn’t believe it was that easy. Harry’s face was one of complete sincerity, his eyes bright and open. He was biting his bottom lip, which looked soft, plump, and so inviting. The urge to replace Harry’s teeth with his own was almost irresistibly strong. 

“It’s okay if you don’t feel exactly the same way,” Harry said, apparently completely misreading Zayn’s silence.

“Can I kiss you?” Zayn asked, which was actually not what he meant to say at all, but Harry’s face brightened like the sun breaking through a long day of gray clouds.

That was all Zayn needed to step forward and cup his hand around the back of Harry’s neck to drag him down and press their lips together softly. Harry’s hands came up to grip onto Zayn’s biceps as he gave into temptation and nibbled at Harry’s pillow soft bottom lip. They kept is sweet and slow for their first kiss, just moving their lips together while their hands explored each other over their clothes.

Eventually they pulled away so that only their foreheads were touching and just smiled at each other. They shared a couple more quick pecks before they heard Bressie calling for them. Harry grinned Zayn and took his hand, leading him back towards the cabin.

“Summer camp isn’t quite as bad as you thought, huh?” Harry teased as he swung their hands back and forth.

Zayn laughed and tugged him closer, but he realized it was definitely true. When he’d boarded the bus he’d been grumpy and so sure that he’d hate every second of camp. After only a couple of weeks he had four new friends, a budding relationship, and the geek in him was thrilled to learn of the existence of superpowers.

“Things are definitely looking up.”


End file.
